2 More RI Students Named College-Sponsored Nat'l Merit Scholars

Just a month after seven high school seniors in Rhode Island were awarded National Merit Scholarships sponsored by their college or university, two more seniors received a financial award from their intended school. Across the country, more than 1,000 students received such awards, joining the more than 3,100 named in the first group back in June.

The scholarships are funded by the individual institutions, which select the winners. This year, 160 colleges and universities are sponsoring financial awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program.

More than 1.5 million juniors from approximately 21,000 high schools in the U.S. entered the program when they took the Preliminary SAT/National MeritScholarship Qualifying Test in 2018, which serves as the initial screening program. In the fall, the organization named 16,000 semifinalists. Those hoping to become finalists then had to submit a detailed application with information about leadership, extracurricular activities and awards, as well as write and essay and prove they had a stellar academic record.

Around 16,000 students were selected as finalized, approximately half of whom would go on to become winners this year.

Rhode Island's latest winners are listed below. See the first round of winners here.

Andrew J. Simone

• Probable career field: Aerospace Engineering
• Narragansett High School
• National Merit University of Maryland Scholarship

Jacob R. Gagnon

• Probable career field: Biophysics
• North Kingstown High School
• National Merit Northeastern University Scholarship